This pair of nesting coffins once held the mummy of Pa-debehu-Aset, an Egyptian official from the city of Asyut, midway down the River Nile.

Pa-debehu-Asetís mummy, now lost, would have been placed in the anthropoid, or human-shaped, coffin. The anthropoid coffin would have nested in and been protected by the rectangular outer coffin, called a shrine coffin because it resembles the sacred shrine of a god. Both of Pa-debehu-Asetís coffins are decorated with images and symbols of the gods, goddesses, spells and prayers that would guide his soul into the afterlife.

Like all ancient Egyptians, Pa-debehu-Aset believed that the mummy was the eternal dwelling place for the spirits of the deceased. The divine powers of gods and goddesses would protect him during his life and after his death. Because of its human shape, the anthropoid coffin could serve as a substitute body should Pa-debehu-Asetís mummy be destroyed.